Temora is a genus of copepods in the family Temoridae. The World Register of Marine Species lists the following species:
Temora discaudata Giesbrecht, 1889 Temora kerguelensis Wolfenden, 1911 Temora longicornis (Müller O.F., 1785) Temora stylifera (Dana, 1849) Temora turbinata (Dana, 1849)
Additionally, Temora curta (Dana, 1849) is considered a taxon inquirendum.
Taxonomy Temora was originally described by Scottish physician and zoologist William Baird in his 1850 work The Natural History of the British Entomostraca. The genus was named for the palace of ancient Irish kings in James Macpherson's Ossian cycle of poems, published in the prior century. Baird's description was based on specimens preserved in spirits, as he never collected a living specimen. The type locality was the coast of Ireland.
In 1881, Prussian zoologist Wilhelm Giesbrecht proposed dividing the genus into Halitemora (, Latin for salt, + temora) and Eurytemora (, Latin for wide or broad, + temora), listing differences in morphology as well as habitat.Giesbrecht, W. (1881). Vorläufige Mittheilung aus einer Arbeit über die freilebenden Copepoden des Kieler hagens. Zool. Anz. 4(83): 254-258 In: Zoologischer Anzeiger. Gustav Fischer Verlag: Jena. ISSN 0044-5231; e-ISSN 1873-2674 Halitemora is not currently accepted as valid, but a number of species previously included in Temora have been moved to Eurytemora:
Temora affinis Poppe, 1880 and Temora inermis Boeck, 1865 (now Eurytemora affinis affinis Poppe, 1880) Temora clausii Hoek, 1878 and Temora velox Lilljeborg, 1853 (now Eurytemora velox (Lilljeborg, 1853))
Description Baird's original description of the genus is as follows:
Specimens collected range from 0.6 to 2.1 mm. With the possible exception of T. kerguelensis, which is known from few specimens and has no published figures, the fifth leg pair is asymmetrical in all Temora species.
Distribution and habitat All species of Temora are epipelagic, being found in shallow coastal waters. Most have cosmopolitan distribution, except for T. kerguelensis, which has been found exclusively in subantarctic waters.
References